Kentucky Facing Drought Conditions

Due to a sever lack of rain and an exceptionally dry summer, Kentucky officials have declared drought conditions for most of Kentucky.  The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet and the Office of the State Climatologist issued a Level 2 drought declaration for 78 counties and a Level 1 declaration for 42 counties.

According to the Kentucky Drought Mitigation and Response Plan created in 2008 "Kentucky has experienced three significant drought periods in the past 20 years: 1988, 1999-2000 and 2007-2008. Government responses have generally been slow and fragmented with little focus on preparedness and mitigation. Coordination and synergy between state agencies has not been absent, but generally implemented on an ad hoc basis in later stages of drought with a “crisis management” motive.

Much of this can be attributed to the lack of timely transfer of information between agencies early on in the development of a drought and the absence of a
consistent set of criteria to define the onset and severity of drought. This plan provides statewide guidance to assess and minimize the impacts of a drought in
Kentucky."

The burn ban is also still in effect for most of Kentucky but has loosened up a little by allowing charcoal fires for cooking outdoors. For more info on the Kentucky Drought Mitigation and Response Plan click HERE!